Positively locking dog clutches are used, for example, in automated manual transmissions. To enable quick and comfortable gear shift operations, it is necessary that, during a gear shift operation of a transmission control, the engagement status of the respective dog clutch is transmitted. For this purpose, a position sensor may be used, which determines an end position of an axially movable part of the dog clutch and passes the relevant information on to the transmission control.
A coupling device with an input side and an output side, which can be connected to one another in a force locking manner via a positively locking shift element and a friction-locking shift element and again separated, is known from DE 10 2012 202 496 A1. An associated actuator device has at least one piston-cylinder unit to which pressure can be applied with a pressurizing medium for the successive actuation of the positively locking and friction-locking shift element. A sensor configured as a reed switch is provided on the cylinder, by which the axial end position of the piston can be identified and with it, at the same time, the current shift condition of the dog clutch can be determined. The position data supplied by this sensor may, for example, be forwarded to a transmission control and processed further there, in particular to optimize the gear shift operations. One disadvantage of this previously known coupling device is that only the axial position of the piston can be identified by the sensor, so that the only digital information available to the transmission control is whether the clutch is open or closed. This results in relatively long reaction times for the transmission control with an inconclusive position determination of the actuating piston.
A differential gear assembly and a drive assembly with such a differential gear assembly is further known from DE 10 2009 056 088 A1. Among other things, the differential gear assembly includes a shifting clutch disposed between an input gear and the differential gear. In an engaged state of the shifting clutch, the torque is transmitted from the input gear to the differential gear, while, in a disengaged state of the clutch, torque transmission is suspended. The differential gear assembly additionally includes an actuator for actuating the shifting clutch and a sensor for determining at least three shift positions of the shifting clutch, which collaborates with a transmitter element that, in one embodiment, is ring-shaped. One disadvantage of this differential gear assembly is that the sensor and the transmitter element are mounted outside the shifting clutch, i.e. outside the differential gear assembly, so that they are subjected to adverse ambient influences, which have a negative effect on measurement accuracy.